Page:The wonders of optics (1869).djvu/254

 the art of photography was founded. Everybody who saw the beautiful images formed by this instrument was struck with the idea that by some means or other they could be fixed on paper. After numberless attempts the long-wished-for goal was at length arrived at; and now optics, aided by chemistry, is enabled to depict for us natural objects of every kind, from the distorted limb of the hospital patient to the beautiful forms of the queens and empresses of the world—from the tiniest animalcule to the great sun itself, who is compelled by the might of science to paint his own portrait for us with all his faults and imperfections.

The lenses used for photographic purposes have only reached their present state of perfection after ceaseless labours of the philosophers and opticians of all countries. At first only a single lens was used, but it was found that the rays which exercised a chemical action did not meet in the same point as the rays of light, for it must be remembered that it is not the light we see that acts upon the substances used in photography, but another influence, known as actinism. It was also found that a single lens would not give a flat picture when the whole of its aperture was used, the edges of the image being always blurred and indistinct. This latter defect was found to be partially obviated by decreasing the opening, but this remedy shut off the light and prolonged the process. Gradually these two defects were removed, and now every photographer, no matter how humble, is possessed of a lens capable of taking a clear picture, every detail of which is perfectly distinct and faithful.

The camera lucida bears a great analogy to the camera obscura in the purpose for which it is used, though not in the principle on which it is constructed. It is employed, like the preceding instrument, for obtaining faithful copies of a landscape, a building, or even of an